The Shadow I: Shadow of Rain
by Hanyou Hitokiri
Summary: A hushed affection. With the rains, comes life. A dangerous possession. With the rains, comes death. He flies, the shroud of his wings the very clouds in the sky. She is in his hands. Willingly, given to him wholly, her heart and soul. Oneshot


CA: Oh my gosh! I'm so touched you wrote me a story! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I don't deserve such a gift!

-sound of a record stopping abruptly-

HH: That is what I would have liked to hear when I gave her this story as a gift. Sadly, this is what I actually got…

-sound of recorder starting up again-

CA: Yes. Of course this story is mine. Mine, mine, mine. I _deserve_ it as a gift. Oh, and thanks for it by the way. Psh! -arrogant arrogant-

HH: -angst angst-

You see, folks, this story is dedicated to my good friend CA. You could say it was a gift. I'm such a nice person! And, really, that's how she accepted it after the squeal and the hugging and the thank you…so it was a little of both. More of the second though… She was also nice enough to let me post this for anyone else to read. I would have done it even if she didn't want me to anyway so it's better I guess that we're in agreement, right?

I'm actually very proud of this one, not that any other ones aren't…ah, you get the picture. I cannot wait to start up the sequel for it! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

And on another note that I guess would be important, this is an AU of course and, as such, there is some OOC. Well, ok, maybe a lot of OOC. This is rated accordingly for mild violence and slight lime.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything Rurouni Kenshin or anything related to such. Except for a few merchandise things. That doesn't really count though.

* * *

The Shadow I

**Shadow of Rain**

The rain, it poured.

He stood under its heavy sheets, soaked to the bone. The clatter of drops and drops over the watered soil sprayed. He never moved. It was here that captured him in the earlier hours of the night. A sound had stilled his tread. It had been the quiet melody of a mother's lullaby sung by a child. Now tears filled the thick air. The sobs of a young one reflected in his heart of stone, deflected from a void of nothing.

The rain fell but it was a storm of another kind raging inside the small hut standing alone on the outskirts of a small village.

However, as the night waned, he saw his mistake. The silent, trembling voice came not from within the dark wooden walls, rather, the small bush growing without care beside it.

It took but a moment to move before he leaned down to peer inside the thin branches. A short, little gasp hiccupped at his approach.

He shushed softly to the bush and the little treasure it unwittingly held. "What is a young one doing outside at this time of night? Do you not fear the Shadow?"

There was silence for a time behind the roar of the thunder and violent whoosh of rain against the ground. "Shadow?" A tiny voice whispered; he heard. "I cannot fear the Shadow anymore."

Such a way with words, he thought of the youngling. "Perhaps fearing the Shadow would do you good," he suggested, cocking his head to the side. "Do you think?"

"I don't think so," she—he knew it was a young girl from the small voice—said. "I will have them follow me everywhere now."

He brought the frown to his face. "Oh? How so, little one?"

"My mother and father. They will always follow me now."

His eyes softened but a tad. "You lost them? One so young?"

"Yes."

He peered deeper into the brush and a pair of dazzling eyes of sapphire peered back, wide and frightened and shining with tears both shed and unshed. He clicked his tongue. "Nonsense. Have you never heard of the Shadow properly before?"

"It was what I was told."

"Ah, little one, I am afraid you were told wrong."

"Truly?" Her eyes flickered in blue fire of questioning and inquiry.

"Truly," He smiled though she could not see his face beyond the rain. "Shall I tell you then?"

"I would like that."

He sat by the bush, seemingly speaking to the plant. "The Shadow, little one, are fearsome creatures who haunt the lands. They are not from the ghosts of people who have passed from this world. Do you understand?"

"I understand," she said, closer.

He smiled and continued. "You see, the Shadow are those guardians whom many fear, sometimes hate."

"Why do they fear and hate them?" she asked.

"They fear them for their abilities, little one, and hate them for the same. They fear what they cannot comprehend nor believe. They fear them for the swiftness a Shadow may pass and bring death just as swiftly, as do they hate their power to do so. Many of them simply do not understand what these creatures do for them."

"Don't they try to understand?"

"No, little one, they do not. Many people do not wish to face their fears and therefore continue to live in them. However, their fear is justified in a way."

"How's that?"

"You see, the Shadow can do everything they are legend to do. They are powerful and mighty. They can slay without second thought, and never lose slumber from the act of murder of large numbers. They are the rulers of things, many different things around you. Even now." He waved his arm to the broad world.

He paused and an impatient rustled came from the branches. "Is that all? If they have such power and never use it, why are people so afraid of nothing?"

"That is it, little one, and the reason you should not take lightly the Shadow-kind. They are alluring to their prey, not expecting as they are. The reason for the fear and hatred of their powerful strength is that they feed on the very people sheltering those feelings. They have the ability to change someone into a Shadow-like creature as well. One would not want to become a Shadow, little one. It is that which they fear as well."

She gasped. "They eat us?" she whispered frightfully. "Why must they eat us?"

"It is what nature intended, I suppose," he said, his eyes loosing their focus as he spoke and rain dripped from the matted hair plastered to his forehead.

"And they can change us into one of them? Why would they do that?"

He was paused another time but not for long. "I do not have an answer for that, child. But do you wish to hear the look of one?"

"You have seen one? Is this how you know all of this about them?" she asked, excited. The brush thrashed as she moved closer.

"Oh, I have seen many of them, little one. Many."

"How have you lived?"

"Hush, child," he said, harder in tone. "Listen well. They are very beautiful creatures with the outer looks of a man or woman. Look in their eyes and you will know, little one."

"Why their eyes?"

"They will be of two colors. They will change betwixt those colors. It depends on the emotion of the Shadow, among other things. Also, they will ensnare you with their gaze."

"I see," she said, with a nod of her head. She sneezed.

"Little one, you will catch your death out here," he said with his eyes closed. "I have told what I know."

"Alright," she said, wriggling her way from the brush. She patted herself and ignored the mud caking her backside.

"Little one," he called as she began quickly to run away. He heard her stop. "Do not fear the Shadow but know to be very careful. The fears of one will soon be brought upon them."

"I understand." she said.

After the patter of feet subsided, he remained as stone beside the bush reeking of the scent of the little girl, a dirty scent and the musk of pain and sorrow. Her family had not been dead for a long time, and her village already seemed to have abandoned her.

When he opened his eyes, the darken shade of his eyes had disappeared, now standing free from the clouds of dark in a brilliant display dancing against the showering glass drops. Amber reflected back on his face as it shone from his eyes. He stood, his time in the cold wind and rain not affecting him as he slowly departed from the skirts of the village and the small lone hut standing there.

Behind him, a splash of running feet carried the girl away.

* * *

She had seen the change in his eyes, just as he had said. She would not fear the Shadow, for she had seen one, spoken to one, heard from the mouth of one and lived. Respect there was for his kind, but fear and hatred found no space in her heart. She would not listen to the damning words of the people. They called her a fool; a foolish little girl who lost her parents to a Shadow and yet defended them. They said she spit upon the graves of her mother and father. 

She would find herself at their graves in the dead of night, alone without mockery and spiteful words. She would cry to them, seeking for their guidance and receive nothing but the wind as a reply. She grieved her dilemma. She distressed over the words of the village people and their ardent claims of Shadow and Demons and the death of her parents by the former.

Many years passed and as she grew from child to young woman, she remained firm in her beliefs and views. Their scorn intensified, as she was no longer a child. By her ten and seventh year, she no longer could visit the graves of her parents. The ways of the people she never grew to see as her people, her village, her home, became too different and drastic for her to remain steady and calm with their lifestyle.

After a time, she fled the life of the village that taunted her and tossed herself to the wilderness she loved so much. She decided to depart for a short time. She could not leave altogether, however she felt the want to go. She knew nothing of the land or of any other villages in which her to live. This time away would have to suffice.

Never had she seen anything past the barriers of the fields that lay behind her now. The trees stood tall and slightly foreign. Manners of birds called and clattered about the branches, their dull colors blending perfectly with the surrounding trees of broad leaves and wide braches. The thicker trunks of the taller, much older trees seemed to push the younger trees into oddly misshapen form, twisted and slowly attempting to reach the warmth of the sun blocked by the dense upper layer of forest. There were not many young trees.

Kaoru believed herself in need of rest after a while walking, and slept on the layer of fallen leaves from the tree above, its branches reaching low as if for her.

When she woke, a caravan of nomads, she knew from the times the dark-skinned people would pass her village bearing many odd items and such for sale and trade, toddled by at their leisure. Kaoru looked down at herself and her telling inadequate supply of anything on her person. She thought not of much as she fled to escape for a time. It also meant, though, she had not a thing to bargain with these people.

Kaoru approached a group of women older than her by several years as they spoke in their own tongue. Their dark brown, nearly touching black, eyes found her and they stopped. Friendly people, one took a step forward, a question in her eyes as the others scurried away into the mass of moving carts, beasts of burden, and wagons.

On their return, they each produced to Kaoru many finely made cloths and jewelry created with practiced skill. They held other trinkets for her to examine but she waved each of them away. She knew not the language of these people, but tried her best to communicate with them. The nomadic women tried their best to find what their customer wished for, but both parties grew weary with inability in communicating.

The caravan passed them fully and halted as the line of people came upon a clearing to where they would rest for the night, as it was to be falling soon.

With a sigh, Kaoru gazed to the sky as the women chatted angrily amongst themselves. It would seem that the rains are coming again, here to stay for but a week or so at a time to rain without ceasing before moving on. They then would not return for a number of months.

Kaoru looked to where the women had stood and saw no one there. She snorted lightly and began to go her way when a voice called. The man had barely a strong hold on her language but she was able to tell him of her need. A grin filled with missing teeth spread across his face when he asked for what she had to barter. She replied negatively, and with a sheepish half-hearted grin.

He eyed her for a moment, the women watching the exchange. He spoke to them, they replied shortly, curtly. Then he nodded to Kaoru, and grinned again. The nomads offered her shelter, told her of their voyage to the village over the hill in the short distance they were to make in the morn. Kaoru declined politely as best she could their invitation. She was soon on her way again to find a quiet place of refuge.

They had provided her with plentiful foods, and a carved stick that she saw many of them carry one of the same. Hers held no scars by battles and other such the like, but she found the smooth wood very handsomely designed. She would keep it with her.

She knew the need for water would be extensive, as the thunder echoed angrily soft in the nearing distance. The brightly colored birds chattered about the branches of the trees; small creatures skittered and squeaked. All searched for shelter from the heavy, crushing rains. The trees and long stemmed shrubs turned their leaves to drink all they could to save in wait for the next rain spell to come. She watched this as it took place. Before her very eyes, the leaves shuttered with no breeze—the quiet before the storm—and painstakingly slowly reach for the sky in wait.

Echoes of birds and animals grew louder as they danced about, searching for provisions for themselves. Kaoru believed the storms to reign before nightfall; the creatures of the forest knew better. They, as it dawned to her knowledge after a time walking through the trees, merely were preparing.

The day passed by, and Kaoru scarcely halted in her need to away the village, though she tried to not travel so far that the hill the village lie over was out of sight. With the night creatures and their strange tunes, she walked long into the nighttime. At last, she fell against a soft pile of leaves, a shrub with the feel of feather's lightness. There, she slept.

The morning brought hunger to her belly, and she woke to calm her distressed stomach with a meal of almond nuts and small, round fruit. Its skin was soft and the abundant juices ran in rivulets down her fingers in thin trails of purple-red. She then drank of a milky white liquid one of the elderly nomads had pressed into her hands with a toothless grin. She could only drink a sip; the liquid was filling.

Kaoru leaned back for a moment to the bush that held her in the night to rest and gather her wits about her for another trek. She was startled when it stirred.

Leaping to her feet, her staff in hand, Kaoru whirled to face her foe. What slowly blinked wide, bottomless eyes and yawned by means of a maw with room for her inside twice she could not identify. Her eyes sparked as the strange manner of creature stood on legs the same mass of large trunks of trees. It's wide, round jaws clacked together after another yawn, rows upon rows of tiny razors glinting in the rising light. The body, round about in the same as the head, shook and the scales that ran down the spine and covered its whole rump stretched as it stretched. The scales, as the fur decorating the front half and halfway down its sides, were a muddy red color.

Kaoru watched the grotesquely fantastic creature and stepped back from the beast. Not a moment after her foot lifted from the hard, sparsely grassed ground did the round ears atop its head swivel to her, its head following in swift succession. The black, lightless eyes expanded from the very center dot of color to envelop its entire eye in deep reddish brown.

She froze; not even a breath moved her.

The beast studied her, intent on its subject. It grew bored, so she hoped. A long, ragged, ugly tongue fell from its mouth as it snorted a coughing, angry wheeze. It turned and trotted away, the mahogany-blue tongue swaying.

Shivers ran the course of her spine and gooseflesh raised her skin. Kaoru gladly watched the animal leave and thanked for its seeming ability to sleep deeply.

The gooseflesh stayed with her long after she began walking again, even after the fear of the odd creature abandoned her, but left its companion caution behind.

Insects droned on and the forest life grew anxious in waiting, as did Kaoru. Since the beastly awakening, she no longer took the forest for granted. Eyes always searching and ears constantly alert for anything other then friendly melodies, Kaoru grew tense as the day wore on. She wished nothing more than to see the face of another person, and longed for this solitude to end with smoke or sounds to alert her of a village in the near, even her own. She neither saw nor heard either.

After a time, she noticed she heard nothing at all.

She shivered again, but for the cooler air from the traveling winds of the rain that breezed calmly in and out of the tree branches and trunks. Her steps she took as light as possible while the sounds of the forest gradually ceased into nothing with each further stride.

Kaoru scanned for a telltale sign something was abroad and found nothing. Nothing but eerie silence.

It was then that she saw him, sitting still under the branches of a tree. She watched for any sign he knew of her presence, but he moved not once. Kaoru glanced around to the surroundings for others but saw none. He was alone.

His back sat pressed against the trunk with one leg stretched out in front of him, the other pulled to his chest with an arm resting atop his knee. Kaoru marveled, even as she could not see his face, as it hid behind a veil of bangs. Those bangs retreated to long, flowing flames down his back. His hair was the color of crimson red, a blood red. His clothing was the likes she never laid eyes on before. The shirt opened at the top—a purposeful split in the seams—to reveal his chest. The sleeves were the length of his arm, ending in wide brimmed cuffs. It too was red but of a much darker shade. The thread holding the garment together was of pure, rich black. His pants were of all black, the material growing wider from top to bottom where it, had he stood, looked to almost be dragging the ground. There were patterns in the material as well, but Kaoru could not discern their designs.

A soft and very slight sigh escaped Kaoru's nostrils. She made to leave the man to himself when a twig snapped beneath her foot. She whirled in the same moment to find his eyes already upon her.

* * *

Kaoru looked into his eyes, her heart a drum pounding the beat of fright in her chest. A brief moment past, and all her power could give her was the ability to stare into the eyes of this man. His eyes, they held many things she could not read and were of blue and purple. They were so different from any ever seen by her before. 

From the shade of the trees and the clouds forming over the graying sky, Kaoru wondered if he truly had his gaze on her. When she shifted and he followed, she knew he did.

When he spoke, the smooth melody of his voice wrapped around her ears in a rhythm of unknown music. It took all she had to listen to his words instead of just the sound of his voice.

"What is a young girl doing out so far from a village? Should your parents find you, I believe they would not be happy."

He waited patiently, his eyes boring into her, for her to reply. When she did, she stammered terribly. "I-I am fine, thank you. My parents won't be looking for me."

His eyes became harder at her words and Kaoru feared that she angered the man. "Why would your parents not be? Do they not care?"

Kaoru almost sighed when his anger was not for her, but placed on her parents. "My parents no longer belong to this world," she said quietly.

He became unreadable again. "I see. Well, it must be luck anyhow that I came along in time of need."

Kaoru frowned. "When was that? For me?"

"Yes, you," he said. "Had I not been there, that Lesser would have made you a wonderful appetizer before breakfast."

"The Lesser?" Kaoru searched her memory. "Oh, you mean that thing that I slept on and woke next to? That ugly thing was a Demon?"

"Slept on?" he said, baffled. His head shook. "Unbelievable. And, yes, that was a Lesser Demon. A Demon who has lost the ability of shape shifting into a human form. Creatures with no mind but for their stomach."

"May then ask the name of my rescuer?" Kaoru spoke, looking anywhere but the unearthly being before her. She felt his calm gaze on her and she fiddled with a loose string dangling from the pouch about her waist.

"Rescuer?" he asked, something hidden behind his mask.

"I do not mean to be intrusive," Kaoru muttered helplessly.

"Kenshin," Was all he gave.

She smiled, though for a reason she could not know.

"Will you tell me yours?" Kenshin said, looking to her again. "It is only fair."

"K-Kaoru," she stammered again.

"Well, then, Kaoru," Kenshin began. Her name rolled from his tongue. "I must ask again what a young girl would be doing out with the rains clearly on their way in soon time." His head tilted to the side.

Kaoru took a step to him. "I'm just…getting away for a bit. I cannot stand my village. It has been too frustrating lately."

"So you run from your problems?"

"No!" she contested. "I am not running. I'm just leaving for a while."

"So you are running from your problems, but only for a time?" he concluded. Kenshin chuckled and offered her a seat beside him. She scurried to his side. "Just what is this problem that causes so much agony for one to leave her hearth and home?"

Kaoru was odd about explaining how she felt about the ones called Shadow. The man from then was not a picture in her memory, and his voice she had hardly distinguished from the rain for they sounded much the same, but his words did remain. She would not fear the Shadows but have a respect of them. Now she felt a fool to have listened, just as the villagers told over the years.

"Perhaps it is something very stupid?" Kaoru finally said, not looking Kenshin in the eye. "And I don't wish to speak of it?"

Kenshin chuckled again, a hallow rumble from his chest. Kaoru leaned closer to him. "I promise to not laugh, little one. You may tell."

Kaoru felt a jolt in her mind, as something about his words—which ones she could not tell—made her feel different in a way. Strange but she felt it.

"A time ago when I was but a small child a man came to me as I was crying in the night. It was raining and I was outside hiding when he spoke to me. He told me of the Shadow. He told me not to fear them."

"I see," Kenshin said after a while. "Those are very interesting words."

"How so?"

Kenshin was silent for a time with his thoughts. Kaoru contently watched him, waiting for his answer.

"There could come a time for an answer to that, but you would rather that time not come." Kenshin looked into her eyes. "Now, you must go back to your village, little one. This is not a place for you."

Kaoru was then on her feet and walking by him, his hand on her arm as she stumbled. His touch was cold like rain, if not colder. "W-wait a moment!" Kaoru struggled. "I don't want to go back. Not yet. I will be fine."

Kenshin's grip was strong as iron clasped around her arm but there was no hurt to his touch. "There are things you do not know about away from the safe barriers around your village. The barriers keep the things of the forest out. Do you not know this, girl?"

"I know very well!" she yanked her arm, tugged at his hand. "It is a barrier to keep Demons and Shadow from taking and eating the people. Though it only reaches so far."

He glanced at her sharply. "Only so far? What village do you live?"

"The one over the hill in that direction. It is a larger village, so the barrier does not reach all the way." Kaoru pointed when he stopped, his hand still around her forearm. She gazed to his immaculate face. "Why?"

"It does not matter," he started forward again.

Kaoru frowned to a near pout as he now dragged her along.

"Do not make this any more difficult, please," he said when the weight he was walking with became greater, yet he had no signs showing it to be more difficult.

"You have no power over me." Kaoru growled. "I am not a child anymore. I can manage myself."

"And just how old is old enough, I wonder?"

"Ten and seven years."

Kenshin chuckled. "Not a child anymore but with nothing as fair to back your words. I find that quite amusing."

"Well," Kaoru sneered. "I'm very glad you think so. If you would unhand me…"

"I think not, little one."

"Stop calling a child," Kaoru muttered.

"To me," Kenshin glanced to her eyes, "there are many who are mere children."

They walked for a time.

"You will not reach my village before nightfall," Kaoru stated.

Kenshin nodded. "I know."

"Then what will we do since you are so driven to have me leave the forest?" Kaoru inquired testily. "I will need rest as well."

Kenshin eyed her, a small falter in his stride. "Do not tempt me."

"Tempt you with what?"

"Leaving you for the animals of the wood," he teased a bit. "What a fine feast they would have."

"Would that be a complement?" Kaoru asked, tilting her head. "Or an insult. By the way you sound I would believe the former."

"Believe me," Kenshin said, pulling her suddenly into his chest. Kaoru gasped as his lips brushed over the skin of her neck. "It is very much a complement."

Dazed, she stumbled as he continued on their way again.

* * *

A small fire burned for Kaoru after the sun set far enough for none of its light to pass through the gray sky. The sound of thunder was still in the distance even as the air felt and smelled fresh with rain. Perhaps the thunder was of another storm ready to pass after this soon to be shower. 

Kenshin was lost from the firelight; his shoulder and arm the only thing the light of the flames reached.

"Are you cold?"

His head shifted to where half of his face illuminated. "No. It will not burn for much longer anyway," he said, subdued and softly. "The rain comes."

As he spoke, the skies opened and the first few drops fell. They sizzled in the fire.

"Should we find shelter?" Kaoru worried as she gathered about her the belongings from the nomads she received.

"There will be no need," Kenshin said as he stood.

"Kenshin," Kaoru pointed to his back where four slits split the back of his shirt. She walked to stand behind him and touch the clean fabric. "Your clothes are ripped. If we find some shelter, I can sew them together for you."

"They were sewed that way."

True, she noticed. The edges showed no signs of tearing. "That's odd," she whispered with a short laugh. Her eyes darted from the long, thin slits to his face. "Why would you have a shirt with holes?"

"I have said it before, Kaoru," Kenshin turned as he spoke her name, his whole visage changing. His eyes shone amber brighter than the fire sputtering pathetically behind her. From his mouth sprouted fangs that touched his chin in length. He reached a black clawed hand for her frozen face as two sets of wings grew from his back. The night-black feathers rustled with the sound of the rain-wind, the ends seemed brushed slightly in grey as heavy clouds filled with water, then darkened to black again at the very ends. His wings opened wide and the blackness of them glittered in imitation to feathers after becoming wet, but this always remained to the look of them. They always looked to have drops of rain on them. "You know nothing of anything, little one."

Kaoru felt her eyes widen at his transformation. "Shadow," she breathed.

Kenshin touched her face again, and she could not move from it. "I am," he brought her to him again, his hand never leaving her smitten face. He saw the terror in her eyes as his fangs brushed over the throbbing point under the easily penetrated skin of her neck. "Do you fear me now?"

"It was you," she whispered, her hand moving to the marble smooth contours of his face. "Wasn't it?"

"It was," he agreed with a nodded. "Do you fear me, little one?"

"I-I can't," Kaoru said, a sob catching unexpectedly in her throat.

"Tears?" Kenshin mused. "What are these for?"

Kaoru's fingers traced his cheek, ran down to the point of his fang and stilled. "I am a fool."

"Perhaps," Kenshin declared, dipping his head to her neck and pressing the points of his fangs to her skin. She gasped, her legs growing near useless at the slight pressure. Instead of a sharp pain, Kaoru felt Kenshin's tongue run over her skin. He had to hold her fully in his arms. "Why?" he asked sternly.

Kaoru struggled to form the words in her mind. "This," she said.

"What?"

She brushed by his fang to feel his face again. "You said the Shadow devour humans. I see how."

"Do you?" Kenshin teased, scraping his claw down her chin. "Do you really, though?"

Kaoru blinked at him then smiled. "I guess not."

He chuckled and closed his eyes. Kaoru felt her mind begin to clear from the muddle a bit. She focused on him and found his brow knotted in thought.

"No," he said at last. "You do not." Kenshin let her from his hold and with a rustle of wings, he moved away.

Suddenly aware of the cold wet soaking her, Kaoru wrapped her arms about her. "Where are you going?" she asked, almost desperately as Kenshin walked away.

He turned to face her, a hand outstretched for her. "Come. I will bear you home."

Kaoru took his hand and he swept her into his arms, his wings lifting them high into the raining sky. Each beat of his wings showered the land with a burst of more water. The pounding of his wings was the very sound of rainfall crashing frightfully to the earth in sheeting rushes with every powerful stroke.

Kaoru was far beyond the touch of bewilderment as the muscles of his arm rippled in effect with his wings rising and falling. Kenshin neither strained nor faltered with the cascading rain and her in his arms. For her, time itself seemed to still as she sat in his arms.

Kenshin descended as the rise of the hill came into view. When he touched land, the rain resumed its earlier and slower pattern of falling.

The drops were light upon her face when she asked. "Will you not stay?"

Kenshin smiled. "Silly girl. Have you not heard the mouths of the villagers? Shadow are those who kill your kind."

"Then can I stay with you?"

His smile faded. "Why do you ask me that? Do you not see me, Kaoru? Do you not understand what I am? Look to the skies and tell me what you see."

Kaoru worried her brow but did as he asked. "I see nothing but clouds and the rain."

"It is whenever the rains fall—no matter how long or forceful it does or does not fall—when what I truly am will fully emerge." Kenshin opened his arms to show her. Kaoru wanted to fall into the embrace he unwittingly offered to her. She, however, remained to hear him. "That time is when my thirsting hunger is the most difficult to ignore as well."

"How may one have a thirsting hunger?" Kaoru questioned.

"I only consume what I am able to," Kenshin explained. "I need nothing but blood."

"So, you truly thirst in your hunger," Kaoru confirmed. "But if some blood is all that you need to sustain yourself, then why are you feared so? You are not a Demon who will consume the whole of a man."

"You truly know nothing," Kenshin reiterated with a sigh. "I drink my fill. My fill is all there is."

Kaoru thought a moment before she knew. "You drink all their blood?" she asked, rushing the few steps to him and placing a hand to his chest. "You always have to kill when you feed?"

"There is no other way," Kenshin said with his hands by his side.

Kaoru shook her head. "Then feed from a number of hosts! If you fed from many, then you would not have to kill."

Kenshin laughed derisively. "And where would this number of people be, hm? Waiting for a Shadow to come and offer some of their life-blood? I think not, Kaoru. And capturing more than one would be too strenuous. It is hard enough as it can be already," Kenshin added, eyeing Kaoru.

"I think you take this too hard."

"And you take it for nothing at all!" Kenshin said ardently. "Kaoru, listen to the words from your mouth! It is hard enough as it is. It is not so simple. Before you now is a live," he snorted, "walking disagreement. I am the Shadow that aids in bringing new life, even as I myself take it away for my own sustenance. Why are you pressing the matter?"

She had no answer for him.

"I thought so," he alleged. "Now, return to your village and stay inside its borders. I will not promise that another encounter while I am here you will remain alive."

Kaoru stood her ground. "Why can't the second encounter be as the first? You did nothing to me this time."

"I cannot speak what will occur the next time, but one thing is sure. There will be no next. Forget our encounter and forget the words I spoke carelessly those years ago. It is better to fear than be reckless and stupid."

"You don't mean that," Kaoru ventured, looking into the amber eyes of the Shadow.

"Every word." Kenshin pulled her hand from his shirt and the changes shrank back into him. The wings, claws, and fangs disappeared from him as he gripped her hand in his. He wiped the tears that sprang from her eyes, and his hands cupped her face. He pressed his lips upon hers in a tender stroke that lasted not at all. Kaoru searched for his touch when he released her. "Do not be foolish, little one," he spoke as his wings carried him into the watery heavens.

Kaoru found herself staring upward for a time, the drops of rain or tears running down her face. In such a brief time, how could she feel an empty growing inside of her? And over a Shadow moreover. Perhaps the villagers were correct. Perhaps she was a fool. Kaoru felt one as she cried for a second time in the rain for something she lost.

* * *

A day passed, and then another and Kaoru felt more restless than when she first had left the village in need of something else to surround herself with. Besides, not a soul saw her missing until one saw of her return. She gathered many piteous looks from the people that morning as she stumbled her way to her parents hut across the village. It was a wonder no one had anything to say to her. Not a word for her came to Kaoru's ears this past day either. 

The rain today was much less heavier than the past two days. Then it was frightful as the rain plundered the earth, eroding the topsoil and ruining some of the crop in the southern field. The storm of thunder and lightning and heavy rain seemed to be a haunting manifestation of anger. It terrified the villagers. Many blamed Kaoru for some unknown witchery, as her hut lay at the southern end of the village just outside the reach of the protective barriers around the fields. She found herself laughing quietly to herself at this.

However, today the rain was soft and light and the sky gray instead of black, spilling a few showers now and again.

Kaoru leaned against the side of her parents' hut and looked to the sky. She sighed, and her chest felt weighed with the weight of her heavy heart. With the storms of the last few days over, Kaoru complied with her itching feet and left for a walk into the forest. It was not long at all until a familiar voice captured her.

"Out again?" Kenshin jested, his voice coming from above. "I thought we spoke about this habit of yours."

Kaoru's feet carried her easier to the tree in which he sat high from the ground. She squinted to see. "What are you doing up there?"

"I am enjoying myself, but there appears to be something missing." Kaoru gasped as he fell from the branch. His wings burst from his back and caught him swiftly upward again. He snatched her from the ground and flew back to his perch. The feathers disappeared as he settled them both. "That is much better."

Kaoru giggled. "You seem to be forgetting something," she smiled.

His eyes, blank as they were, searched for an unknown something. He looked at himself then to her. "I don't think I am. Enlighten me, then, if you would."

"You said you would never return." The mere words choked her and she began to tremble.

Kenshin tilted his head and wrapped his arms about her. "Ah, I must have lied then. I could not keep myself away."

Kaoru laid her head on his chest, the coldness of his skin touching her even through his garments. There, she felt no beating within. "Was it you who caused the storms?"

"It was," he acknowledged, his voice rumbling through her. "I was very angry."

"What caused such anger?" Kaoru buried her face into his shoulder, and smelled his scent of fresh, crisp rainfall over a dry forest and the slightest hint of ginger.

"I cannot answer," Kenshin replied aloofly. "I have no answer for myself either."

Kaoru breathed, trying to find his breath as well but found none. She felt frustrated.

"Breathe, little one," Kenshin chuckled lightly, rubbing his hand over her back. "I may not need to, but you still do."

"You have no beat in your chest either," Kaoru mentioned questioningly. "That is very interesting."

"I am not in the living realm anymore," he explained. "I am in no need of those things of humans anymore."

"Oh," Kaoru blinked. "I see."

She clearly did not but Kenshin chuckled again.

"How was it you had the hand behind the storms?" Kaoru asked. "Many believed it to have been me for fun to terrorize the village with my witchcraft."

"So many questions, little one," Kenshin muttered. He sighed. "I am the Shadow of rain. Wherever the rains go, I am always there. I bring the storms and the showers and the thunder and lighting. Without a doubt, you have seen my sister's doing, the winter storms that bring snow and ice."

"Oh, yes," Kaoru laughed. "I know of her very well. In fact, I think I remember almost being lost to her fury one winter when I was very, very young. It was fortunate my mother found me when she did. That was a terrible blizzard."

"Hm." Kenshin wrapped his arms about her fuller. "Megumi can have such a temper."

"Will she be happy about you giving her name to a lowly human?" Kaoru played, shoving his chest a bit.

"She will have to live with it," he chuckled at his own little pun. Kenshin brushed his lips over her ear. "Are we done asking things, little one?"

"I think so," Kaoru sighed, leaning closer to his chest. "But there is…"

Kenshin stopped, pulling back and gazed at her. His eyes still held nothing, everything blocked from her view by him.

"I'm sorry," she finished sheepishly. "I won't ask another."

"No. I do not mind. As long as this is the last?" his lips quirked. "At least for now?"

"Yes," Kaoru smiled but then it faded. "Why is it you seemed to feel so strongly about my parents not caring before?" His playful face melted away to stone as she continued. "I mean, you must have some reason to react so strongly to parents. Did yours not care for you?" Kaoru ran her fingers over his cold cheek as it clenched under her touch. "I'm sorry for asking. It wasn't my place to ask," she said in a rush.

"No," Kenshin said quietly. He blinked slowly. "No. It is alright. I never had a father in this life."

"What do you mean? How can one not have a father?"

"Shadow are not born. They are made. I am spawned from the Mother."

Kenshin offered no more. Kaoru sighed, feeling his body tense against her. She laid her head to his chest.

"Breathe," he said, a bare whispered she could not hear.

"What?"

"Please, breathe for me," he repeated. Kenshin enveloped her in his arms again, his motionless body like she wrapped her arms about the trunk of the tree instead of this wonderful, terrible being. Kaoru nodded and breathed.

The late hours of the day passed into the night and still they sat. Only when the rumble of Kaoru's stomach did they move. She placed a hand on her stomach as she laughed. Kenshin placed his hand over hers.

"I will take you home," he said, standing them on the branch. It swayed with her shaky movements. His wings slid free.

"You won't make the promise now, will you?" Kaoru wondered.

"I will make another," Kenshin declared. "In another two days, I will return."

"Two?" Kaoru exclaimed but he placed a finger over her lips.

"Constant exposure to the wet weather will be the death of you," he informed correctly, his voice the very tone of mockery, though, seeming to be more for his own jest. "I refuse to endanger you needlessly, as well for you endangering yourself needlessly."

"Perhaps it is not needlessly," Kaoru said sheepishly, looking down at the ground.

He chuckled. "Two days. It is all I myself could possibly bear."

Kaoru stepped to him and wrapped her arms around him as he took to the air. It was hardly a trip to the edge of the forest—only as far as he could go—when he touched down. There were unshed tears in her eyes when he did.

"Now," Kenshin said. "What is this about?"

"Nothing," Kaoru wiped her eyes.

"I see," he brushed fingers now laden with claws down her face, to her neck. He played with a strand of her raven hair. "You will wait for me," he demanded, rather than asked.

"I wouldn't think not to," Kaoru breathed, leaning into his touch. He kissed her, the fangs in his mouth prominent as they slid from their sheaths. His hand at the back of her neck held her as he ravished her mouth from the slackness of her jaw, found no corner unclaimed by his own tongue.

She moaned helplessly and he pulled away from her. She followed blindly to search for him again but only found his finger across her lips. She looked into bright amber eyes as his fangs fell completely to length. A brush of wing picked him from the ground, his voice the only thing left behind as his cloud-grey tipped night-black feathers drew him away.

"Two days, little one."

* * *

Kaoru hardly heard anything derogatory from the babbling mouths of the silly villagers. Her mind was elsewhere as she threaded and sewed herself a new garment. It was of a light blue, the color of the sky that Kenshin must never had seen before since he always is under clouds full of rain. Her fingers worked deftly as she sat inside, the patter of the rain tapping a rhythm for her ears. At least now, she had no feeling of heaviness at this time away from him. The rain was he; it was always with her. 

The day Kenshin said he would return arrived and Kaoru slipped her newly made garment over her head, tied her hair into a tail. She felt giddy.

A call of her name pierced her joyful haze. Kaoru stepped to the door and peered out into the drizzle. There stood a man. He was tall. Taller and more muscular than Kenshin. Silver-white hair spanned from his head. On his face was a chilling welcoming smile.

"Who are you?" Kaoru demanded of the strange man.

His brown eyes sparkled as his smile broadened. Kaoru stepped backwards. "Don't go," he said, holding out his hand. "Kaoru."

Kaoru held her hand over her fleeting heart. "Yes?"

"Ah," he grinned. "It is you."

She fell as he sprang forward suddenly with night-black wings so much like Kenshin's whisking from his back. He flew by only two rather than four and the ashen black feathers held no gloss. Also, his had the tips dipped in a silver as his hair and did not return to black just before the end of the feathers.

Kaoru scrambled as he neared, slamming the thin wood door closed. She snatched the closest thing to her grasp and swung it as the door splintered and he strode through. The stone dish shattered on impact with the man's face, but he did not come unscathed. Kaoru did not stay to see the trivial damage that tore an inhuman hiss from his mouth in fury.

"Woman!" he screeched as she scrambled from a window in the rear of the hut barely big enough for her to pass through.

Kaoru tumbled to be caught harshly by the ground, the sound of furious crashing and tearing steering her feet to move faster. The back of the hut exploded in a shower of wood chips; his doing. She felt the wind of his pounding wings as she ran for the cover of trees in the forest. Kenshin had to be there.

The drizzle slowly became a rushing shower. Thunder echoed from afar.

He was upon her, his wings bringing him down. His strike rendered her unconscious; she had no time for a sound. He grasped her from falling and took wing, flying low to the treetops, away.

A man, young in the ten and ten years, scrambled from his hiding place. He ran to an older man sitting at the largest structure in the village. He tried to speak around gasps for breath.

"The Kaoru woman. I saw her. She was carried away by a Shadow. And remember the day before when I told of the other!"

The older man leaned from his workings before him.

"I tell the truth! She was taken by another one, and willingly so! She must whore herself to the Shadow!" he spat on the ground. "I swear it! She is a whore to them!"

The older man tugged at his aging beard, a deep frown crossing his wrinkled face. "So, she consorts herself with the Shadow-kind? She mocks us; is a mockery to this village." He paused. "We will await her return, and then will we decide what is to be done with her."

"Death!" The young man rushed.

"Peace," The older man held his hand before him. "We will see. We have time."

* * *

Kaoru woke above the trees, the water-filled wind across her face. She jerked at the laugh.

"You are awake!" The joyous tone of the Shadow that stole her away said in her ear.

She looked to his grinning face, his silver hair, and the pale black wings that beat unsteadily against the winds. He flew just barely over the trees. The wind changed its course, and he faltered. He picked his beat up to steady himself. The winds fought against him. Kaoru held her smile.

The Shadow weakly made for land, cursing as the wind shifted downward to aid him unkindly to a fall. He landed upon his shoulder, the wing folding to his body to protect it from damage. Kaoru collapsed to her knees. A prick in her palm caused a breathing hiss from between her teeth. She viewed her hand to see a long, thin but deep line of blood the length of her palm.

Kaoru felt his gaze on her. When she saw, there in his eyes was a frightening display of need. He had her hand in his sights, never leaving. He stood, a hand falling from his shoulder as he walked to her. She likewise stood, moving away.

"Where are you going, hm?" he asked lightly, as if in friendly banter.

She did not speak. Her wounded hand curled into a fist.

He grinned again. A shutter climbed down her back. The wings spread wide, though not near as a span she knew.

"I see you want to play," he assumed. His hungry eyes flicked from her hand to her neck. He had to grin again for his somewhat shorter fangs to show. "I can play your game, human. It cannot be a long one, however," he said sadly.

Kaoru had no seconds even to see as he suddenly held her throat with clawless hands, his wings blinding her from anything other than him. He toppled her to the ground, falling roughly on her.

"You see," he began. "I cannot allow you to live. Not in this life. Not anymore."

Kaoru looked into his brown eyes unaffected by any other change to him. Feathers from his wings floated free and fluttered softly to her face. They felt dead. His lips curled back, fangs bared to pierce her neck. Kaoru found nothing within to scream.

Beyond, the anger of the sky doubled and the man quieted over her. His chest jerked unsteadily with breaths he need not take. The breath in her face was colder than his touch. For what he waited, he either waited too long, or not long enough. The thunder crashed louder than a thousand slides of land and rock and the very earth trembled under its wrath.

He cursed, scrambling to his feet and dragging Kaoru after him. By her arm, he held her before him and tossed her about. She stumbled to keep her footing against his rough handling.

"Here!" he screamed into the sky darker than night. Thunder clashed again.

Kaoru focused past the waving world to a pair of eyes glowing with such a brightness she never imagined. The pair of amber orbs floated above them, staring with such a rage that caused her heart to stop and fear to fill her to the point of pain.

"_Insolent!_" Kenshin's voice roared. The thunder sounded behind him. The very lighting sparked from his eyes, lighting the black sky in vicious glows of gold.

The man laughed and gripped his hold on her arm tighter. The bone strained and she cried out.

Lighting crack the sky open.

"What were you to do?" The man called unafraid into the nightly sky. "What were you to do, brother, had I taken her?!"

Kenshin's eyes narrow to glowing slits. He spoke the chill into the air. "If it were you who had her, I would end her life as well as your own. Do not call me by brother again. I am of no kinship to you."

"Lies!" he spat. "It is you to blame for my fall! It is I who was forsaken by our Mother, not you!"

"Is this how you would repay me then, Einishi?" Kenshin bellowed. "For sparing your life, you would take one of a woman?!"

"What good did you do me?!" Einishi screamed back, raving in his anger.

"Quiet!" Kenshin thundered along side his element. "You brought this upon yourself! I had nothing to do with your fall to mere nothing!"

Einishi bared his fangs, a hiss spilling from his throat. Kenshin answered his challenge with one of his own, a hiss of crackling of lighting and the rumble of thunder. To that, in defiance of the dominant, Einishi threw Kaoru from her wondered daze to the mud earth. Kenshin echoed his hiss.

The silver-haired once-Shadow lunged for Kenshin. The flurry of feathers was lost to the black air and the sound of crushing rain. Kaoru peered into the haze to see Einishi struggling against the powerful Shadow but with nothing in comparison with him, Einishi fell to the earth in a flutter of feathers. Many pale feathers rained down on her, alighting in her hair and on her face. She wondered if the man had any left to take flight after Kenshin a second time. He did not.

Kenshin remained in the wind, his ruffled feathers beating steadily and surely.

"Leave, you pitiful creature," he commanded. Einishi trembled in anger as he tried to stand. Marks of claw and fang lashed across his body, and his arm hung limp and misshapen. "Leave this kinship behind, as it left you a short time ago. You have no place with the Shadow any longer. Go spawn more of your own kind to thrive with and be grateful I allowed you to exist once again."

As Kenshin spoke, Einishi's wings dropped to the ground. His fangs shrank to hide completely inside his mouth, though they still showed as he opened his mouth in a howl of rage.

"You vampire," Kenshin scoffed. "_Go_!"

Einishi stared to Kaoru, then to Kenshin. He fled.

Kenshin watched as the vampire escaped. His body held that of a statue, motionless except the slow, alternating wave of wings. His amber eyes remained as slits. He never spoke; never acknowledge her to be there.

Kaoru did not want to break the thin silence. She opened her red palm and saw the blood over her hand. Her speedy heart pumped more from the small wound than it should. From her peripheral vision, Kaoru saw Kenshin snap his gaze to her. She cried in fear unwillingly as a flash of feather had him over her, her back on the cold and wet ground.

Kenshin had her hand, his eyes watching her blood run down her arm. With his tongue, he trailed the line back to her palm. Only then did he see her, feel the shutter of her body under his. A moment with his mouth on her skin slowly went by. Kenshin picked them both up, taking wing.

He reached a place of his satisfaction and dropped, shielding her from the jolt as she landed under him. She strangled a gasp as he found her hand and nursed it slowly, cleaning the liquid. With his mouth, he coaxed more to seep from the gash.

"It would be a shame…" he never finished. Kenshin took her fingers, brushing them each over his lips. He closed his eyes.

Kaoru questioned his stillness softly, pressing her other hand to his cheek. "Kenshin?"

He opened his eyes swiftly then, the color of them no longer amber but blue-purple. He ran his fingers down her neck, across the fabric over her collarbone. Never taking his gaze from her face, Kenshin placed his lips over her skin. His fangs receded; he sucked with nothing but his lips. Kaoru's breath hitched tightly in her throat.

He chuckled. "You like that, hm? Interesting."

Kaoru's eyes filled with unshed tears. "Kenshin…"

"So many tears," Kenshin said. "What are these for this time?"

"I don't know," she laughed a bit at herself, derisively. "I just-" she shook her head slowly, peering into his distant eyes.

He sighed. "Need I repeat myself? You know nothing of anything, Kaoru. Not even yourself."

She smiled as she brought herself up to sit in front of him. Before he could move farther away, she touched his cheek. He looked at her with a frown, and was surprised when she kissed him.

Sheepish, she buried her face in his chest but he ran a hand up her arm, bringing her to face to look at him again. His kiss was fierce, possessive as she moved on her own accord to straddle his lap. A growl from deep within his chest rumbled and he again found her neck. As he tasted, Kaoru leaned her head back with a slight moaning gasp, exposing more of her skin to him.

She touched his face under his chin. With a thin smile, he complied with her summon but teased with a brush of his lips on her own briefly. He moved to her cheek and nape again, his hand running up the length of her. Her breath was short but he heard the frustrated sigh. Kenshin captured her mouth.

This time, Kaoru pushed into his mouth to explore. She skimmed past his lengthening teeth of fang; she challenged him. He took the fight, pressing back to her. The battle barely began when Kaoru pulled back for air that only she needed.

Kenshin occupied himself, returning to her neck. Kaoru, as she tried to catch the breath he would not let her gain, brought her hands up under his shirt, raking her nails over his solid muscles as they rippled at her touch. Boldly, as Kenshin continued to worship her nape, Kaoru began to lift his shirt but it caught on his wings. Kenshin smiled against her neck, drawing the feathers back and taking her hands to help remove the cloth.

Kaoru lifted her head to capture his unaware mouth but he drew back with a small smirking glance into her deep blue eyes to his obsession, her neck. He took the sash holding her clothing together and slowly slid it free, running his hand intimately over her warm skin. Kaoru gasped as she rolled her tongue over his shoulder. The rumble in his chest intensified. He groaned as she suddenly pressed her teeth down on his neck, raking over his cold skin. With a growl, he lowered her under him, placing feather-like kisses over her jaw.

The thunder bellowed, echoing in the cavern. The elements raging outside just a brush of the passion bottled in the small confines, nearly all too small to contain the sweet oblivion that was all their own.

In the aftermath, with her wrapped tightly in his arms, Kenshin softly commanded her to sleep. He brushed her closed eyelids with his lips, his wings enfolding them as they lay. Kenshin needed no sleep; he felt her rise and fall beside him as she breathed.

* * *

Kaoru woke to no sunshine, no breeze. She was cold under the makeshift blanket of cloth from her clothing. Sitting up, she saw Kenshin clad in only the pants of strange designs. He was perched at the edge of the rock at the entrance of the little cave. She gathered her clothing around her and moved to him, brushing her fingers over the feathers of his folded wings as she knelt next to him. 

She had no words to say, but what came to her mind at first. "Good morning."

Kenshin glanced from the corner of his eye at her, his ever-walled gaze. He caught her chin as she lowered her head and placed a kiss on her lips. "I will say morning, but it is far from good."

"Why is that?" she asked, sitting next to him.

His head shook, slowly. "I have no answer but one that brings me to bearing you to your home once again."

"I don't understand why it must be two days," she protested, leaning to him.

"It must be," Kenshin replied looking away across the view of the forest. "There are no questions. Not even if it were more."

"I could find some," Kaoru offered.

"That you very well could, but no. I will bear you home, Kaoru."

"I still do not want to remain in that village," she huffed as she dressed, Kenshin with his eyes on her.

"I still remain where I stood before on the matter," his lips twitched upward.

"I bet that you do, stubborn man," she said, turning her bare chest from him.

He clucked his tongue at her punishment. "I am not a man."

"Shadow," she corrected herself gruffly. "Whatever thing. You still are a male of some sorts!"

He chuckled, wrapping his arms around her and finding his mark on her neck. A small mark that made her his and bound her to him more than the human realized. "Are you ready?"

Kaoru sighed heavily. "Yes."

"Tell me, little one, why is it you wish to be with me?" he asked as he took flight.

"I cannot answer," Kaoru replied with a smile. "I have no answer for myself either."

He too grinned.

Just outside the boundaries of the quiet village—eerie quiet the two did not detect—Kenshin let her off.

"I guess I cannot gather any answers from you," Kaoru began sadly, peering to see into his emotionless eyes. "There are many others that I would like to ask."

"I will see if I can give you answers," he responded. Kaoru tossed her arms about him; his arms lingered by his sides. "Do not go foolishly into the forest again without my being here. You will wait for my return," he directed, his voice as cold as his skin and as blank as his eyes.

Yet, Kaoru agreed. "I wouldn't think of anything else, Kenshin. You will come back?"

"Yes." Without another word, his folded wings gathered the wind and leapt him into the sky. Kenshin was gone before she could look up. She allowed the few tears walking to her hut.

The heavens were thinning of clouds of overbearing water.

She woke the day of next to a clear, cloudless sky bluer than she ever did not want to see.

* * *

The clouds boiled as Kenshin flew. Heavy with water, they complained at his speed. He ignored their cries. 

The familiar edge of forest came to view. New clouds began to form as his wings beat the air faster; his eyes bled thin amber lines that flickered about in his irises. He grew wary as the hill flew by and he doubled back, circling the village with a deep furrow in his brow.

Someone was waiting.

Kenshin dropped much like an eagle to earth, catching his wings in a quick expansion before he collided. They folded to his back when a clamor that only humans could make rattled behind him.

"Shadow!" A man called angrily with fear hidden in the mock power of his voice. Kenshin stayed with his back to the small group of foolhardy men. "What is your purpose in haunting this village?! We have nothing of yours! Be gone with us!"

Kenshin chuckled deep in his throat. "I must challenge that, human," he turned, snapping his wings from his back. Their span was longer than the five men fearing shoulder-to-shoulder were, the grey and black tips reaching further still. The five were just half the length. Thicker lines of amber burned as flame in Kenshin's gaze. "You have something that does belong to me."

"You speak of your whore?" Another spat.

Some fell to the dirt in terror, but all trembled as Kenshin's hiss caused the thunder to shake the earth, the lighting to spark the sky with gold.

"_Where is she_?!" he roared, and his features changed completely to that of Shadow.

The smell of urine struck the air as a man on the ground covered his head, rocking.

"Dead to us!" The man cowered. "She is no longer with us!"

Kenshin halted in his silent stalking toward them; the air filled with such static that the hairs of the men's head rose slightly. Wide amber orbs flamed in the blackening sky.

The first strike was that of a bolt into the ground, flashing the day-night sky to that of if a noontime sun were hanging loftily overhead. Thunder growled in accompaniment.

The second was that of Shadow.

Kenshin sought blood as he easily found the first man in the false night, tearing the human just as effortlessly in two. He barely noticed the pieces as they splattered unseen to the ground with a sickly wet thud. The men flailed about under the light of nothing. The only light was the lighting, sparse and frightening, as what they saw was the last thing they would ever see.

Kenshin's fangs ripped the throat of one. It hardly remained attached to the rest of the body. Claws freed the gut of another with a moist pop. Nothing quenched his fury. Not even the pungent scent of fresh blood reached the part of his mind that knew he hungered for food, and knew of the abundant amount there was soaking the grass in red.

Time and deathly screams passed quickly. There were no other humans in the village; it was completely empty. Fortunate for them that his fury was not able to touch the rest of them.

Kenshin took flight, leaving his charge behind. Where he flew, there was nothing but open sky. He had not seen a clear sky in many, many years. The mountaintop on which he arrived looked out over much of the lands. His few siblings thrived with their wards and charges, scattered abroad.

He lifted his face to the sun. The warmth tingled over his cold flesh. He smelled the thick blood soaking his hands, covering his garments. His fingers ran down his face, smearing marks over his features as he screamed, doubling over to force the sound as his muscles trembled. There was no thunder to resound with him; it was merely his voice, void and empty. It did not echo back to him.

Spell ended, Kenshin regained his straight stance and peered outward. As his eyes followed the edge of the horizon, his heart, hollow and ever still, plummeted and tinged with sorrow under the touch of the sun. Drops, bits of water, pattered slowly into a steady stream from the bright cloudless sky, as his eyes remained dry. The heavens cried for him, where he himself could not.

And the rain, it poured.

* * *

Surprisingly enough—well maybe not—this is the longest fic in pages I've written. Except that Christmas fic that went way out of control…needless to say it was not posted. It needs a lot of work…-sweatdrop- Maybe it'll make it this Christmas. 

Be on the lookout for the sequel. It'll be sometime in the future. Near? Maybe. It depends if I find someone willing to beta this and the next ones for me. Nevertheless, it will come. You'll just have to be patient, please.

And, for anyone who is interested, here is the playlist that helped me write this piece:

Taking Over Me by Evanescence

Ticket to Heaven by 3 Doors Down

Breath by Breaking Benjamin

Bodies by Drowning Pool

Poison by Groove Coverage

What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts

Angel by Sarah Mclachlan

Thank you for reading and until next time!


End file.
